Man Fights Back After Being Attacked by Kangaroo

A man fought back after being attacked by a kangaroo in Australia, footage shows.

The footage, which was captured on CCTV and posted to YouTube channel This is Australia, shows the moment Cliff Des tackles the kangaroo to the ground in a New South Wales neighborhood.

Des can be seen frantically running away from a huge kangaroo, which shortly appears behind him.

Des then falls over, and gets back up, only for the kangaroo to charge at him. The man then appears to fight back against the huge animal as it continues to bounce toward him. Des eventually manages to trap the kangaroo between his legs, forcing it to stay pinned to the ground.

The video has since gone viral, and received over 34,000 views on YouTube as of June 1.

Des told Australia's Today program that the attack happened after he spotted the kangaroo with his dogs in the garden.

According to Des, the kangaroo was about 6-foot tall and "trying to rip [his] little dogs out of the yard."

"I went near it, about 30-foot away to try to shoo it away but it didn't want to go away," he told Australia's Today program. "I thought this guy means business, he was going to mongrel me if I didn't, I took him to the ground."

Des did not emerge from the incident without injuries. The kangaroo had bitten him on the fingers and clawed at his head and legs, he told the news outlet.

A caption to the YouTube video states that the attack was "unprovoked."

According to the Queensland government website, kangaroos who are used to being given food by humans can become aggressive. If these kangaroos come to expect food, and there isn't any, they can become agitated.

It says that often, people lose wariness and "first hand knowledge" of the animals and "how they live," making attacks more regular.

"This means we can get too close to kangaroos and wallabies without thinking about the consequences," the website states. "For kangaroos and wallabies living on the bushland fringe of a suburban area, a human may be seen as little more than a large animal living in its habitat—and one that they may occasionally need to defend themselves against."

Kangaroos can grow large, between 3 and 8 feet. The animals also have muscular legs and tails, meaning they can pack a powerful punch. They even have powerful jaws, which some have said pack a bite as powerful as that of a grizzly bear.